Issue 10: Out of Time
Can we get, like, 24 MORE hours added to the day?
Happy July, dear reader! I hope you’re taking advantage of all this summer weather!
Let’s stroll together into newsletter land, shall we?
Apologies in advance. Usually, I come into these things with a game plan. A topic. Something professional that’s well-researched and well-written. But this round? I’m just calling it as I see it in real time. Is that good? Is that bad? I don’t know. You tell me once you’ve read it.
What Happened Last Issue?
In the last issue, I talked about my recent summer travels, and some of the inspiration I found along the way.
Let’s Talk About Time!
I’m assuming that many of you joined this newsletter curious to learn more about what it’s like to be a full time writer. I have touched on those specifics here and there, but more often than not, details about my writing projects—especially when it comes to my game writing—are buried deep beneath an unmovable mountain of nondisclosure agreements.
But, hey, NDAs are no reason to avoid getting into the nitty-gritty of writer’s life stuff, right?
Right!
Cool. Let me expound on how I spend my days wrapped in a cocoon of creativity, creating worlds and characters that are sure to shape the future of fiction for years to come.
If only.
The truth is, I spend most of my time thinking about time.
I talk to other writers about time. I talk to my wife about time. I consider time. All the time. And all references to time are directly about how little of it there is in the day. Between day jobs, kids, pets, partners, groceries, meals, sleep, leisure, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, new video games, old video games, books, films, board games, or just sitting and staring at the wall trying not to be completely overwhelmed by the terrible, awful, horrible things happening in the world (or even right outside of your door), time is a finite resource.
With these extreme time limits in mind, I spend a lot of time prioritizing my own time. What NEEDS to get done? What HAS to get done? Whatever time is left after the sleep, the parenting, the eating, and the game industry day job then gets focused into those other projects that energize my spirit. And unfortunately, sometimes there’s just not a lot of time to go around after the clock is rationed out like a pie that’s been cut into haphazard slices by someone with poor eyesight and hand tremors.
My world works in bite-sized chunks. I make the most of the minutes that I have—before the kiddo wakes up, during my lunch break, or even on the toilet (sorry)—to figure out what I can do to create forward momentum on those projects which I have deemed to be important to me.
Five minutes here, 30 minutes there, 15 minutes over here… all that time adds up to something. To whatever I make out of it.
The first thing I did to help free up more free time in an overcrowded schedule was to cut loose all of my freelance clients. All of them. Every single one. Gone. Poof! If I want to have time to create stuff for me, it makes sense that I can’t spend my free time creating things for everyone else. It’s less money in my pocket, sure. But it’s less stress in my brain and less strain on the clock.
After all, my current passion project docket includes the regular writing of an ongoing comic book series (Unit 44), which isn’t just writing, but also playing project manager—reviewing and approving artwork and colors, lettering finished pages, formatting pages for print, creating marketing materials, and spreading the word of the series on social media. But those issues don’t write themselves. I’m currently working on next year’s four new issues. One script is written. One is half-baked. Two are little more than ideas or outlines, leering at me from the pages of a notebook that sits patiently in my desk drawer.
I still have two issues of The Obsoletes, my sci-fi series at Silverline Comics, to write. Thankfully those aren’t deadline driven, meaning I can peck away at them as time permits. But they are in my brain. Constantly. When I lie down in bed at night, those characters chide me for not giving them more of my time and attention.
Later in the year, I’m speaking at a Writer’s Conference, presenting two different workshops to aspiring and up-and-coming writers. If you think those presentations are written, buttoned up, and ready to go, you are sorely mistaken. But you know what? I’ve noodled some quality outlines into a notebook and will set aside an upcoming afternoon or a weekend to build them into something that will be informative and educational for the attendees. Boy, those Unit 44 characters get jealous when I’m noodling on these.
There’s a nonfiction project that’s been in my head for some time that I’d love to tackle. I haven’t even begun to tackle it. I think about it, though. A lot. The Obsoletes aren’t happy when I do so.
When I take a few minutes to write this newsletters, all the characters from the above projects get together and scream at me in unison.
Then there are the ideas for six different novels that I’d love to hit at some point. But again, I’m all about prioritizing things, and the fact that I’ve already written two novels and had zero interest in either one of them from literary agents makes me think it’s best to just stay in my comic/games/nonfiction lane. Maybe after I retire I’ll get to them. I’ll have time then, right? Will I ever actually be able to retire? Oof. That’s something else I’m going to think about now.
It’s a lot of projects on my self-imposed docket, but I will get to them. And that’s the important part.
If there’s one take away from all this, it’s this: life happens. You make the most of the time you have. Don’t let a lack of time keep you from doing what you love. Instead, find joy in those 5, 10, 30-minute spans when you can breathe your creativity cranked up to 11.
If, like me, you also deal with LTS (Limited Time Syndrome), here’s some further reading that may help to inspire you:
From Construction to Teaching: Seven Writers On Their Day Jobs
By Emily Alexander for Lit Hub
In a diary entry dated 1911, Kafka writes that having a day job “is a horrible double life from which there is probably no escape but insanity.” Academia and publishing offer literature-adjacent careers to a small number of writers (who must find time for their own work even within these literary industries), and the rest of us are left to eke out our livelihoods in nontraditional ways, balancing odd hours and demanding labor with creative work (not to mention regular lives of meals, children, exercise, even—dare I say—leisure?).
I asked seven writers about their day jobs and how they manage to produce work in their off hours without losing their minds.
Stick with it. Don’t give up.
Area 51 Mischief and Mayhem
If you were kind enough to preorder a copy of Unit 44 #5, the issue should have reached you by now, or be on its way. If you checked it out, drop a comment and let me know what you think of silliness and irreverence that myself, artist Aleksandar Jovic, and Andrew Pate worked so hard to bring you.
For those keeping track at home, funding for Alterna Comics’ summer titles (which includes Unit 44 #6) is 4 DAYS away from completion, and we’re ~$500 away from a goal that will allow us to print and distribute the titles. Remember, as part of this campaign, you can grab the Unit 44 Vol. 1 Giant, issue #5, AND issue #6 for just $10.
If you’d like to learn more about the upcoming (multiversal) issue, check out this short, silly interview I did… with MYSELF!
I’d love to keep going, but… y’know… gotta write.
NEW SUBSCRIBER. WHO DIS?
I’m Wes Locher. I’ve been writing professionally for a decade. I write comic books, video games, fiction, and nonfiction. I write whatever seems fun, cool, and inspiring. I also love helping other writers to demystify the process of making a living through words. This is my newsletter.
Another solid one here. I relate to this so much... time is very finite. It seems like there's never enough of it. Even as a freelancer with my own schedule I still am swamped for time. :P Thanks for this relatable post here. Really cool that you're speaking at conferences too. I've been thinking about that too. You're so involved!